Capitalism

A socio-economic system in which relations are mediated through private ownership and commodity exchange and which tends to colonize and commodify all life and land as resources for power and progress.

Anarchist and other forms of socialist economics hold that the means of production should be owned by the workers and all decisions that affect their work (salaries, what to produce and how, etc) should be made by the workers as well, not a boss. These two pillars would significantly reduce the gap between rich and poor and and also go a long way towards a more egalitarian and democratic society. This type of vision is in stark contrast to capitalist, free market economies where workers have little say in their own pay, hours, what they produce, and experience an instability in their work since their jobs could be moved at any time if a more profitable location were discovered by the owners, who exploit their labor for profit.

Opposition to capitalism entails both revolting against its destructive, colonizing forces, as well as imagining positive alternatives based on mutuality and cooperation.

Anarchist, Michael Albert, talks about capitalism and an anarchist alternative, participatory economics. This clip is part of a series, in which Albert discusses participatory economics.

Murray Bookchin talks about how anarchism questions dominations of all types, not just economic domination and why this is necessary for a truly revolutionary movement. This clip is from the DVD Anarchism in America.

"Capitalism: An Introduction" Libcom.Org, May 15, 2011Libcom.org has compiled a clear and concise introduction to capitalism and its inner-workings, it's history and relation to the state. We offer this basic introduction as a good starting place for anyone beginning to develop an analysis of political economy from which our stories of faith and resistance grow."At its root, capitalism is an economic system based on three things: wage labour (working for a wage), private ownership or control of the means of production (things like factories, machinery, farms, and offices), and production for exchange and profit . . ."

Kaufman, Cynthia. Getting Past Capitalism: History, Vision Hope. Lexington Books. December, 5 2013.This new book by Cynthia Kaufman of Deanza College’s Philosophy in Cupertino, CA begins with a critique of the impacts of capitalism on society and the environment. It looks in new ways at what capitalism is and at how it is reproduced. . Kaufman then looks at some fundamental questions about how capitalism comes to look like a system that is unbeatable, and how people come to have desires that work to reinforce capitalism. She argues that rather than looking for the fulcrum point in a system that will make it able to be overthrown, we should try to understand what kinds of practices open more spaces for stopping the reproduction of capitalist processes, and what kinds of structures need to be developed to make capitalism a less important part of our world. ‘Getting Past Capitalism’ includes both a critique of capitalism and presentation of strategy and alternatives to capitalism, many of which already are being developed.

Document a modern example of alternatives to capitalist economic models in which hundreds of thousands of workers in Argentina have taken over abandoned factories and run them according to principles of human worker solidarity, equality, and self management.